Joel McHale

Joel Edward McHale was born Nov. 20, 1971, in Rome, Italy, the second of three sons of Jack and Laurie McHale; the latter a native of Vancouver, BC, Canada. Not long after McHale's birth, the family relocated to the Seattle, WA, area where he grew up in a jovial household on Mercer Island; his father's quick wit rubbing off from an early age, he recalled years later. At Mercer Island High School, he befriended Dominic DeLeo and Ethan Sandler. All three attended the island's local youth arts institution, Youth Theater Northwest, and cut their teeth on deconstructive comedy by watching the influential early Comedy Central show, "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (Comedy Central/The Sci Fi Channel,...